1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to the storage and management of data items, preferably within a hierarchical data storage system. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and systems that store and retain relevant global records such as tax, financial, or other business records of a business organization according to a stable classification or group taxonomy or other data organization model(s).
2. Background Information
Businesses and other organizations, including brokerage firms, hospitals, educational institutions, pharmacies, newspaper agencies, governmental agencies, courts, statisticians, search engines, archeologists, museums, individuals, and investment firms (referred to hereafter as “organizations”), generate and/or receive a variety of paper documents, folders, data items, and electronic information (referred to hereafter as “records”) during the course of their operation. For example, depending on the nature and/or needs of an organization, records such as educational, medical, business, tax, financial, legal, news, advertisement, sports, population, entertainment, environmental, governmental, marriage, criminal, historical, birth, death, insurance, and/or any other records linked to the organization, may be generated and/or received. Regulatory agencies and courts expect organizations to operate in an accountable manner, requiring them to retain records generated and/or received during functioning of the organization. In particular, laws, regulations, and business requirements (referred to hereafter as “requirements”) govern the length of time for retaining these records. The duration for which records are retained may depend on the type of record and the requirements relevant to that record. These requirements may vary according to jurisdiction and are typically defined by local or regional regulations and laws. Because many organizations have operations in various countries, the records of such an organization are subject to different requirements, depending on the applicable jurisdictions. Non-compliance with these requirements may result in regulatory fines, criminal penalties, civil suits, and loss of business.
There exist organization models where records and the corresponding requirements are managed in spreadsheets. The spreadsheets are circulated to various teams across the organization for review and implementation. However, such a model is impractical for an organization having global operations. The current models limit the access of the records to small segments of the organization and do not provide an efficient way of accessing and managing the records globally. Moreover, ever-changing regulations and laws require frequent modification of the requirements and often stress committed IT and/or human recourses. Accordingly, such an approach is error prone and generally inefficient, thus increasing the risk of non-compliance with the requirements.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for improved solutions for supporting record retention obligations. For example, there is a need for improved methods and systems that manage records of an organization in an efficient manner. For large organizations, there is also a need for a common global database that manages records generated and/or received during business activities related to the organization as a whole and/or displays the retention obligations of the organization.